PLATINI TAKES CHARGE

Last updated : 26 January 2007 By Editor

From the Guardian:

European football looks set for a shakeup after Michel Platini was elected president of Uefa, ending Swedish incumbent Lennart Johansson's 17-year tenure at the head of European football's governing body.

Platini, who has promised to limit the number of clubs each country can have in the Champions League to three, won by 27 votes to 23, with two ballots deemed invalid. He will serve as Uefa president for the next four years and will also be a Fifa vice-president.

The result follows a tense election campaign which descended into bitterness in the days leading up to the vote. Several national associations have been angered by Johansson's refusal to step aside after such a long presidency, and senior figures in the organisation have already begun debating whether to set a maximum limit for future terms of office.